Life.Culture.Discovery.

Socialising platform TimeLeft offers a dinner date with strangers in Hong Kong

PostMag writer Amalissa Hall goes on a blind date with a group of strangers via an app that introduces random people, creating a unique dining experience

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Timeleft offers a refreshing alternative to conventional networking events, focusing on authentic connections over meals. Photo: TimeLeft

Published: 11:00am, 23 Feb 2025

“Why would you willingly go to dinner with a bunch of strangers?” was the nearly audible subtext of the look my partner gave me when I told him I’d signed up for TimeLeft.

Touted as “an innovative social platform that brings people together over shared dining experiences”, TimeLeft’s offering is simple: attend a dinner with five other strangers, with the guest mix and restaurant location left to the app’s algorithm.

In an effort to combat “big-city loneliness”, TimeLeft’s Paris-based CEO Maxime Barbier founded the platform in 2020 to create opportunities for “chance encounters”, encouraging people to connect with others they may never meet in real life. It’s clear that the idea was primed to satisfy the post-pandemic need for social connection, and it caught on quickly, operating today in 300 cities across 60 countries, “fostering genuine, real-world connections”.

But for those with established social groups, is the prospect of joining one of these dinners too far-fetched? Or, could TimeLeft be an antidote to the jaded notion that you already know enough people?

TimeLeft CEO Maxime Barbier founded the platform in 2020 to create opportunities for “chance encounters”. Photo: TimeLeft

As someone who grew up in Hong Kong then returned after three years at university abroad, I’m happy to say I have a wide network of friends from school, various workplaces and the secondary connections that come with those people. Still, I wanted to find out if TimeLeft was a one-off gimmick that would just dish up a single-serving entertainment, or result in a meaningful experience that would leave me hungry for more.